The charter97.org web-site received a letter today, in which a person, also a businessman, tells about the conditions of detention in the prison, called Amerikanka.

Below we are giving the full text of the letter, since it accurately and truly describes what is going on in KGB prison. We would only note that political prisoners were treated even tougher.

“Hello!

Having seen the shooting of Uralkali’s director general Vladislav Baumgartner’s detention and delivery to KGB prison, I decided to write you a couple lines about where this person got. I am asking you to publish the text on the forum. If you want, you can check the information provided, but I do not have any reasons for misleading anyone, believe me.

Moreover, however strange this may sound, there is a positive moment in Baumgartner’s arrest: probably, this scandalous story will attract additional attention to the fact that an actual Gestapo is acting in the territory of a European state in the 21st century.

First of all I would like to turn the readers’ attention to the fact that the maximum restrictions and coercion methods were used from the very first minute, as it can be seen in the video. I mean that he was searched in the position with his hands outwards against the wall and started convoying him handcuffed in a certain position. Legally this means that from the very first minute he received the status of a prisoner inclined to an escape, attack or suicide. This means that he has to make all the movements around the jail in the position with his face down to the knees and handcuffed. Straight away I will tell that the law only allows applying such measures to people, recognized by the court as dangerous recidivists, especially dangerous recidivists and people, sentenced to a death penalty. Were there such decisions regarding this Russian citizen? I do not know, but I think not, but if there is no rule of law in the country, it is simply pointless to mention laws in the Amerikanka. Understand the most important thing – far from everyone move this way there. In general, it is an actual Gestapo of the 21st century, and I would like to briefly describe how this punitive organ acts, and what Baumgartner most likely faced already, and what expects him in the nearest future.

Everything in order.

The main thesis of this article – nothing happens by accident in KGB jail! This diabolic system, developed since the times of Stalin’s repressions of the 30-ies, functions practically without changes in this particular institution.

After the detention and initial legal proceedings two KGB jail’s guards-controllers are summoned to the office (that is what we could see in the video, when they were already taking the new prisoner to the jail, located in KGB building’s inner yard).

After they enter the office a carousel begins. Usually, the good and bad cop approach is divided between good operative agents and investigators and the evil hell of the jail itself. It is important to note that this diabolic repressive machine is quite inventive and uses individual approach, there may be nuances, but it is like it is in general.

These two guards-controllers are the landmark of this hell, whose goal is to break a person psychologically as tough and fast as possible. They put handcuffs on politely and carefully. They politely ask to walk along, although they do rush you, but also politely so far. This goes on until the entrance to the Amerikanka building, until a person gets to the basement floor of the jail’s building, to the inspection room. In the inspection room a person is asked to sit down on a wooden bench and wait a bit. When the person sits down on the bench, the guards go out and close the door. These are the last 5-7 minutes of peace of quietness, but they are not given for nothing. The security officers look into the peephole and wait until the person’s back muscles relax and he/she closes the eyes (these are two obligatory conditions).

As soon as the person gives signed that he/she started calming down… It is time! The lock’s clang and “cold shower” – everything out of the pockets quickly! Take all your clothes off! Take off your underwear! Squat five times! Five more! Everything that the investigator allowed to take with you is not allowed! Pills are not allowed! A doctor will check the pills tomorrow and decide, what is allowed, what is not. If you feel bad, we will call the ambulance, although people rarely die here. They do not die here at all! They die in the ambulance, not here! Do not worry, there it is the order, it is tough, but it is there! Enough! Here, sign the papers!

This is what was confiscated from you. This is that you are familiar with the rules of detention in the jail and are under obligation to follow them. You will check out the rules in the cell, they are on the wall, you’ll have more than enough time. In the morning during the rounds you will ask the on-duty officer all the questions! They do not yell and swear so far, but they speak in an unusual way. A person looks at them and does not understand: there are people, it seems like they speak the same language, but the brain boils from not understanding what exactly is wrong! Only later the person will understand that there were microphones installed absolutely everywhere and they work all day round, there are video cameras too.

Security officers prepare an individual scenario for breaking each particular person, and god forbid they make a mistake – the punishment will come. There are 72 hours and one and a half mistakes between dismissal and arrest. That is why only the people work there, who do their job consciously and even like it, so they try hard. They are actors with no education, and there are several premiers every day!!! You get some infernal performance in the end. In principle, this is what they need – they reach their goal, 5-7 minutes and a person’s brain starts boiling already.

So, the first step to hell has been taken. After signing the papers there comes an order to turn your face to the wall and put the hands on the wall. Then hands behind the back and to walk forward fast. They order to look only at your feet, you cannot look around you and up. This is how the person is taken from the basement to the ground floor up the stairs semi-running (as of this moment all the movements are made semi-running, if you do not do that, it is a challenge with all the consequences…, but again – individual for everyone). From the ground to the first floor you do not take stairs again, but a guard’s ladder. Commentary: guard’s ladder is a very steep and narrow metal ladder. Who was in the army, will understand, what it is. It is meant for a guard to take his position at the observation point. It is designed coming from the assumption that it will be climbed by a healthy guard feeling well.

The height of each step is 35-40 centimeters, there are rails and it is about a meter wide. The building’s design, of course, provided for usual stairs for everyone apart from a guard, but nothing happens by accident in KGB jail! A person will always climb the guard’s ladder despite the health condition, however hard and inconvenient it is. These exercises influence psychics too, especially at first, but this is the point.

When the person, whose brain is already boiling after the inspection room, climbs the ladder to the first floor, another convoy officer meets them, face to the wall again, another body search, then they take the person to the cell. Usually, on the first day it is the 17th or 17th cell, rarely the cells number 2 or 3 (they are filled the last, and are tried to be kept vacant). It is hard to tell why exactly those, most likely due to a number of factors:

1. This is the north side (sunlight does not come in, there is constant shade, the light bulb is very weak and the eyes get tired fast and start hurting);

2. The absence of a toilet. Commentary: there are toilets in the cells number 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. There are no facilities in the others. There are plastic buckets in cells instead.

3. Closeness to the ladder (may be for convenience, since in the first ten days jail’s employees and all the rest will be working hard with the person).

So after the brain’s boiling in the inspection room, acrobatics on the ladder and two body searches the person gets to the cell.

There are rumors that Baumgartner was placed in a single cell. There are no single cells in Amerikanka, there are no not-single cells either, all the cells are roughly the same, apart from the one in the basement, which is covered with soft materials on the inside for violent people… Usually before the person breaks psychologically (the first and the main stage of the process is reached in 6-8 days) he/she is kept alone. The breaking algorithms, considering specific personal psychological types, have been developed in decades.

There is also nothing random in the cells:

1. Very dim light (the lighting reminds of garages or sheds), one has to look closely at everything.

2. In the far corner there is a washstand, and in the near corner there is a bucket. There is a plank bed between them.

3. Plank bed is a separate creation of the diabolic art: the bed is a grate made of metallic plates with holes of 10-12 centimeters in between. The mattress, given at the entrance to the cell together with a pillow, pillowcase, two sheets, an old aluminum mug, two plates and a spoon, falls into the holes and repeats the grate’s structure, and the grate sticks into the body.

In 20-30 minutes between drowsiness and sleeping a person often wakes up because of the pain from the grates sticking into the body and tries to change the position and lie on yet not hurting part of the body. This happens close to the morning. In the evening one simply gets up and starts walking around the cell (three and a half steps one way and the same distance the other).

Of course, such a limited space adds fuel to the fire of the boiling brain. But it is only later that the person values this space after he/she gets into the same size cell, only with four people under investigation, where he/she will not be able to walk these three steps, there will be the possibility to make only two or one and a half steps. In the cells for three people, it is only possible to walk only sideways between plank beds. They are of the same length, but narrower. This will all come later. So far these three steps seem like standing at one place.

4. Architecture: All the cells are of the exact form of a usual coffin, only bigger. There is no right angle. A person looks up – a coffin’s cap, looks down – coffin’s bottom, looks sideways – coffin’s side. Small narrow window with mate glass and a casement of an A4 paper sheet size. The air only comes in through this A4 hole. There is another ventilation hole, roughly 15 across diameter, opposite the window above the door. But in the first days it is closed for creating oxygen debt. Commentary: these ventilation holes are closed from the outside with a metallic shutters. A fishing line is attached to the shutter for lesser visibility and the guard opens and closes the hole noiselessly and unnoticeably. Nothing happens by accident in the jail, and the shutter does not work in the first days… Oxygen is a major problem in the jail. Even a walk cannot provide for a daily minimum of oxygen. The state of mind and body is impossible to describe. May be only second world war’s submarines can understand that. If miners do experience oxygen debt, those are short ones, during the working day, but there those are protracted – for weeks and months!

5. For the purpose of being objective: there is a table in the cell of the size of one square meter and two sitting places near the table, which is notable: Dzerzhinskiy’s colleagues designed the cells for two people, but Felix’s grandsons already modernized the building, added the second tier and made the cells for four.

The first day is over. Although, the person will have no idea of the time of the day for the nearest ten days.

During that time the person will not be given an opportunity to put his/her brain in normal or stable condition. If it starts turning off because of tiredness, it will be bothered from outside knocking on the doors or near the doors (this equals shoots in the silence), or asking loudly, sometimes yelling, “How are you feeling?”, What are you doing?”, “Lie in a different way! We cannot see your hands!” etc.

Morning…

The whole body hurts. It hurts even to walk, but the pain is bearable.

6.00 is the wake up time. But the person does not know that. Watches are forbidden.

In 3-7 minutes he is taken to the bathroom one of the first (nothing happens by accident). Commentary: they take people to the bathroom two times a day – at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. A person has to take this famous bucket of urine. A person cannot do the number two in the conditions if oxygen debt. That is why is rare or especially important cases Amerikanka workers provoke diarrhea according to the written algorithms. The prisoner has to pour the bucket’s contents to into the toilet and come back to the cell. One has 3 to 5 minutes for that. For the first time, like in all the 10 days or before he/she breaks, the person will be taken to the toilet on the ground floor, so he/she does the acrobatics on the ladder with a bucket of urine and pain in the whole body. Only later, when the person starts cooperating, this toilet procedure becomes less terrible and torturing. If the prisoner agrees to become an agent, he/she will get to the cell with a toilet and will stop dividing his/her life into 12-hour periods.

In the end: one minute to semi-run with the bucket to the toilet, 3-5 minutes in the toilet, and 1 minute back to the cell. As the door closes or in 2-3 minutes an order comes: “Prepare for the rounds!”. The rounds start at 8, although the order comes at 6.10! There is no watch and psychologically the waiting extends for ten hours. They do not let relax either. If someone gets tired of waiting there comes knocking on the door or near the door, or the same pointless questions “How are you feeling?”, What are you doing?” etc.

The rounds take 1-2 minutes. The door opens, the on-duty officer enters, listens to the report and leaves. He says that all the questions should come in the written form. For that he can order to give a pen and paper after the rounds, but it turns out that one can only ask the written questions during the next morning rounds. This means another day of vacuum and incomprehension, even simple things. One of the most terrible questions is where to get toilet paper? They do not provide any, they say “Wait until your relatives send you some!”. How long to wait? We do not know…

Food taking is not notable. It is modest and regular. The person does not pay attention to it in the first 10 days. The person is stressed, the brain is boiling, he/she does not fully understand the reason of the boiling, they do not care about the food… Later, by the seventh day the stress diet reminds of itself. It would try finally to break the prisoner (that is why there are no parcels or letters in the first ten days). They take the person for interrogations, and he/she should forget all the rest. This is the algorithm. There in one serious problem in taking food, which comes almost immediately – there is no possibility to drink tea. They only provide strongly brewed tea, which is supposed to be diluted with hot water. But they do not give any. In the end there is only cold tap water and bread, but its amount is also decided by the guard (there is a norm, but the person does not know it and cannot check).

Some other formalities take place in these ten days (dactylography, tests, questionnaires etc.), but they are all accompanied with constant reprimands etc. It does not matter how the person behaves and what he/she does (if the person is not broken yet, of course), the system keeps working according to the algorithm.

On the 6-7 day the person starts turning into a semi-vegetable because of all that and is in an inadequate condition. Plus the body starts screaming: “Hey, buddy! Decide something, or I will stop working and you will die”. Or the person starts hearing all his/her body organs separately.

After that “The Moment of Truth” comes!

According to that scheme of different algorithms 8 people out of 10 agree to cooperate on the investigation already in these days. This has a temporary positive result: sleep, cell in the sunny side and probably with a toilet, parcels and bonuses from the guards (additional minute or more in the toilet, slower running pace, the intonation of their voices etc.). Then enlightenment comes and it becomes clear that these indulgences are not so important. But this will come alter. Much later. But there is no way back. Everything has been registered (interrogations, confrontations etc.), the stamp has been put (you slandered, confessed, broke).

These are the first 10 days, then it is also not good, but these days…

P.S. Many important details have, of course, not been described, but this is not an appropriate format for that. At the same time only the main principles of how prisoners are treated are described here, whereas no less diabolic psychological games that operational officers, investigators and officials play are a separate topic.

This Gestapo is terrible and inhumane. Here it is said only about the minimal common rules, but if there was an order to break Baumgartner on the high level, this guy may only be sympathized, like anyone else in his place.

Of course, they will not put needles underneath his nails, nor break bones, but they will break the mind in an extremely tough way. If necessary, he will be made undress, do push-ups naked, run up and down the guard’s ladder and many other things that these criminals can afford.

Like their commander in chief, the employees of Belarusian Gestapo have little human left, these are good-for-nothing people, bastards and sadists, who live beside us…”